


How Did She Die?

by WinterJoy



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Gen, Oliver tells the Lances what happened to Sara, Season 1, Season 2 Flashbacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-11-01 14:12:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17868782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinterJoy/pseuds/WinterJoy
Summary: What if Sara hadn't told Oliver to tell her family that she died on the Gambit? What if she had asked him to tell them the truth? How would that conversation go?





	How Did She Die?

4 Years Ago

“You know if something happens to me tomorrow,” Oliver began. “You can’t think like that” Slade retorted before storming out. Oliver focused on Sara. “If I don’t make it, I need you to tell my Mom and my sister that I wasn’t that same stupid kid who got on that boat. Tell them I was different.” “Okay,” Sara replied, “and if I don’t make it, this is what I need you to do.” 

∞∞∞  
Present Day

“You came back from the dead, this calls for a party!” Tommy exclaimed, taking his eyes off the road for a second to look at Oliver, “You tell me when and where, and I’ll take care of everything.” 

A minute later, Tommy stopped the car at a light, turned to Oliver, and asked him what he missed the most. 

“Laurel” Oliver replied. Tommy looked at him sadly. “Everyone is happy you’re alive. You want to see the one person who isn’t?” 

“I was horrible to Laurel,” Oliver stated seriously, “and I know that we have no future. But I made Sara a promise, and I have to keep it. I need to talk to Laurel.” 

∞∞∞ 

“Hello Laurel,” Oliver said gently, “how’ve you been?” “Why are you here, Ollie?” Laurel demanded, crossing her arms “what makes you think that I will listen to anything that you say, after you killed my sister 5 years ago?!” 

“4” Oliver stated. “Sara died 4 years ago on the Amazo, not the Gambit.” 

“Wh-what are you talking about?” Laurel stammered. 

“Sara and I promised each other that if either of us didn’t survive, we would tell the other’s family what happened to them, and pass on a message,” Oliver told her, “I couldn’t save Sara, and I will be guilty of that forever, but I refuse to fail her last wish. I need to meet with you and your parents. Call me with a time and place that works for your family, and I will be there.” 

∞∞∞ 

Oliver took a deep breath. He’d spent 5 years in hell, but almost nothing had been harder than the next half hour would be. He would rather fight through a team of Bratva body guards or Triad assassins than sit and talk about his past with the three people who hated him more than anyone. But this was one thing he could do right. He’d have to censor what he said, so that Lance didn’t connect him to the hood guy, but he would tell Sara’s side as truthfully as he could. Oliver raised his hand and knocked. 

The door opened to reveal detective Lance. “hmph,” Lance grumbled, “let’s get this straight. You are a monster. I despise you. After today, you will stay far away from my family forever. You’d better not have been lying about having a message from Sara, or I will find something to arrest you for.” 

“Understood, Detective,” Oliver replied. He was ushered into the living room, to a single wooden chair in front of the sofa that the three Lances sat on. It felt like an interrogation. 

“So, Sara really is...” Mrs. Lance asked, unable to finish the question. 

“Yes, ma’am,” Oliver returned gently, shutting his eyes for a moment, “I’m so sorry.” 

“You said you had a message from her” Laurel stated. 

“Yes,” Oliver replied, “and the story of her last year.” 

“Well get on with it then” Lance huffed. 

Oliver swallowed and nodded. 

“There was a storm,” he began, “when we were on the gambit. It was getting closer, when suddenly the room flipped and a huge hole was torn in the side. Sara was sucked out. I tried to grab her, but I wasn’t fast enough.” 

“Of course not, you good for nothing son of a...” Lance began before Laurel elbowed him. 

“I was sucked out a few seconds later,” Oliver continued, “I tried to find her, I shouted over and over, but I couldn’t see her. I found a floating life raft and managed to climb in. I floated for days.” 

Oliver saw his father’s death flash across his memory, but resolutely pushed it aside. 

“I survived on Lian Yu alone for about a year.” 

“How?” Laurel queried, “you couldn’t even survive a fully-stocked kitchen before.” 

“Where there’s a will there’s a way” Oliver asserted, “but that really isn’t important. One day, I saw a freighter approaching the Island, called the Amazo. I thought rescue had come, but that was the farthest from the truth. Men found me, and kidnapped me, dragging me back to the ship and locking me in a cage.” 

“They didn’t ask who you were?” Laurel asked. 

“Nope,” Oliver returned, “they didn’t care. They were pirates under the hire of a delusional scientist who needed to capture human subjects for his research. The whole hold of the ship was filled with caged male prisoners.” 

“And Sara?” Mrs. Lance breathed worriedly. 

“After some time” Oliver continued “I was taken out of my cell and thrown into a room to be interrogated. When my interrogator walked in, it was Sara.” 

Three quiet gasps sounded from the sofa. 

“She signaled me to pretend that we didn’t know each other as the scientist entered and questioned me,” Oliver continued, “and we kept up the ruse for a while. One night, she was able to unlock my cage, and we slipped overboard and swam to the island.” 

Oliver carefully spun the tale to omit Slade, Shado, the mirakuru, and his skills. 

“When we got back to my shelter, she told me that when the gambit went down, she was able to climb onto a piece of the wreckage. She wasn’t sure how long she floated, but the Amazo eventually found her and picked her up,” Oliver told the Lances, “the scientist, as deluded as he was, must have had some bit of sympathy in him, because he took Sara under his wing before the pirates could hurt her, and made her his assistant. She told me that he trained her in biology to help him with his research.” 

“Sara always hated science,” Laurel reminisced, shaking her head. 

“It sounds like science was the best option for her with those criminals” Lance stated. 

“It was,” Oliver agreed, “Anyway, we both knew that as dangerous as the Amazo was, it was our only shot at getting home. There were no other boats the entire year that I was there. So, we made a plan to try and take over the ship.” 

“You are crazy!” Lance exploded, “There’s no way that two city kids could take on an army of pirates. Of course Sara was killed! You are the biggest idiot to ever walk the face of the planet!” 

Oliver bent his head and took all of Lance’s rage. 

“I know,” Oliver said quietly, “we both did. The night before our attack was when I promised her that I would come talk to you if she didn’t make it. She made me the same promise about my family. What I should have made her promise was that if we failed, she would jump ship without trying to save me.” 

“SHE DIED SAVING YOUR WORTHLESS HIDE!!?” Lance yelled. 

“Yes,” Oliver replied sadly, “and if I could go back and have 100 do-overs, I would find a way to trade places with her every time.” 

“Well you can’t,” Lance glared, “so that doesn’t mean a thing.” 

After a few seconds of silence, Mrs. Lance whispered, “go on.” 

“We made it onto the ship and freed the prisoners,” Oliver told them, “we were all fighting, and most of them died, or drowned trying to escape. We decided there was no way we could succeed and went to jump ship. Sara made it off, but I was grabbed just before I could jump, and held captive again. I eventually managed to escape and swam back to land.” 

Oliver had decided to leave out where Sara agreed to trade another man’s life for his, and rigged him to be a suicide bomber. Her family didn’t need to know that side of her. 

“The Amazo couldn’t leave though,” Oliver went on, “It had sustained damage during our attack. Some of the crew came to the island looking for the prisoner who was an engineer, and kidnapped Sara when they couldn’t find him.” 

“Did she learn mechanics too?” Laurel asked. 

“No,” Oliver returned, “at least she never said so. I think it was out of spite.” 

“And of course they couldn’t have taken you” Lance grumbled. 

“Whatever the reason,” Oliver cut in, moving on, “I swam out to rescue her. I got her free and tried to fight the captain so she could escape, but she joined in. I told her to run, but she refused. If I had been more persuasive, she would be alive now. She would have been the one to come home.” 

“The captain killed her?” Laurel questioned. 

“No,” Oliver explained, “Well, yes. But it was my fault. I couldn’t get her away from him. The ship had taken too much damage, and just before he shot his gun the ship exploded and started to sink. I told her to run again, but she still wouldn’t leave. He grabbed her and threw her out into the ocean through the hole in the bottom of the ship. I saw her die and I couldn’t save her. I’m so sorry.” Oliver looked up with sad eyes. 

All three of the Lances were crying now. 

“I don’t understand,” Laurel said, “how are you alive then?” 

“There were at least 2 more explosions after the first one,” Oliver told her, “the second dropped beams onto the captain, killing him, and the third must have knocked me out. The next thing I remember is waking up alone, washed ashore on the island. I have no idea how I lived—I never saw anyone else again; I was alone until that one fishing boat found me 2 weeks ago.” 

Everyone sat in silence for a while; the Lances mourning Sara again and reeling from what they had just been told; Oliver pulling himself together enough to finish. 

“Sara said to tell you that she loved you,” Oliver told them softly, “all of you, more than anything. She said not to blame yourselves for anything, that you were the best family that she could ask for, and that her getting on the Gambit had nothing to do with any of you. Laurel, she said to tell you that she was sorry for betraying you and sleeping with me. She said you were an amazing big sister, and she wished she was as loyal to you as you always were to her.” 

Laurel buried her face in her hands and sobbed. 

“Mrs. Lance, she said thank you for always encouraging her to pursue her dreams, and for believing in her.” 

Oliver turned to look at Lance. “Detective, she wanted you to know that at night, when she was scared, she would think of you. That she would remember all the things that you used to do together; how much you loved her; and when she would imagine that you were hugging her, she always felt safer.” 

Lance’s face didn’t change, but Oliver could tell that this was an application of the adage ‘still waters run deepest’. Lance had a big heart when it came to his daughters.

“She said to tell you all to keep living your lives, and to be happy” Oliver finished. 

Everyone just sat there for several minutes. 

Eventually Mrs. Lance broke the silence, “Thank you” she said simply. 

Oliver nodded. “I know I can never say it enough, but I am sorry,” he told them, “without me, Sara would be alive. She deserved life far more than I ever have. Hate me as much as you want, for as long as you want—I earned it. Just never hate her. She loved you all so much.” 

With that, Oliver stood up and quietly left. 

He wore the hood to honor Shado and Yao Fei. He knew how to fight because of Slade. He carried out his mission for his father. But it was because of Sara that he would fight till his last breath. He would make her death mean something.


End file.
